The ASEAN Football Federation (AFF) Competitions Committee has recently decided to reschedule the AFF Suzuki Cup 2020 to the end of 2021 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Vietnam's defender Tran Dinh Trong controls the ball during the first leg of the Suzuki Cup final against Malaysia at the Bukit Jalil National Stadium in Kuala Lumpur on Dec 11, 2018.
Originally due to take place in November 2020, the biennial tournament was then postponed to mid-April next year.
However, given the complicated developments of the disease, the AFF Competitions Committee continued to discuss the issue further and the Suzuki Cup in now slated to kick off on December 5, 2021, and conclude on January 1, 2020, following the conclusion of the 31st Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in Vietnam.
Permanent Vice President of the Vietnam Football Federation (VFF) Tran Quoc Tuan, who attended the meeting, said that the new date for the event was approved by all participants to the Committee’s virtual meeting on December 7 as it will enable teams to make good preparations for matches within the 2022 World Cup qualifiers, scheduled for April and June 2021.
As for the system of youth tournaments, members of the Committee reached a consensus on trying to both maintain competitions for youth teams in the region and ensure accordance with the youth tournament system of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) and FIFA.
Permanent Vice President of the Vietnam Football Federation Tran Quoc Tuan attends a virtual meeting of the AFF Competitions Committee on December 7. (Photo: VFF)
At the meeting, Tuan underscored that it is necessary to adjust the age group for the AFF’s youth tournaments in 2021 in order to create favourable conditions for teams to participate in the AFC qualifying and final rounds in respective age groups.
Specifically, youth tournaments in 2021 will be adjusted to U15 and U18 for men (from U16 and U19) and U16 and U19 for women (from U15 and U18). This will help create relevancy with the age groups participating in the AFC’s events in the same year.
The contents reached at the AFF Competitions Committee meeting will be submitted to the AFF Council for approval.
Vietnam are the reigning AFF Championship holders, having defeated Malaysia over two legs in the December 2018 final to claim the trophy for the second time in the competition’s 20-year history.
